


Nutritional Value

by Judy_The_Dreamer



Series: Joystick Verse [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alpha Bucky Barnes, Alpha Steve Rogers, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Anal Sex, Bucky is Right as Rain - The Lucky Bastard, Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Comeplay, Dom/sub Undertones, Gender Identity, Harley Keener is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Liberated Omega Tony Stark, M/M, Mention of past Mpreg, Multi, Mutual Pining, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Omega Tony Stark, Oral Sex, Past Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Pining, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Power Dynamics, Pre-Stuckony, Rimming, Steve Rogers Feels, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, established stucky, fantasies about rough sex, fellatio on a sex toy, introspective smut - that's my branding now, mention of male lactation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:34:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23769334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Judy_The_Dreamer/pseuds/Judy_The_Dreamer
Summary: Sometimes the first taste is not enough and you find yourself hungering for more.Tony, Steve and Bucky come to terms with what transpired in Joystick.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Joystick Verse [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1445122
Comments: 34
Kudos: 216
Collections: Bucky Barnes Bingo 2020, Marvel Polyship Bingo 2020, Stucky Bingo 2019, Tony Stark Bingo 2020





	Nutritional Value

**Author's Note:**

> *clears throat* Some of you have been asking me when I was going to write a sequel for Joystick. Well... It's happened. :)
> 
> Nutritional Value takes place directly after the last scene of Joystick and offers different perspectives on what happened in that fic. I'd recommend reading Joystick before this if you haven't already or if you want to refresh your memory. But hey, if you just want to read this part, that's fine too. :)
> 
> An enormous thank you to my two lovely betas and fellow Stuckony Discordians @vicspeaks (also @captainmistyknight) and @imreading (@I_m_reading). They have done an incredible job with helping me elevate this fic to the next level. I love you x 3000.
> 
> This fic was written for the following bingo squares:
> 
> Tony Stark bingo K2: Smell [Card Number: 3009]  
> Stucky bingo C1: Rimming  
> Bucky Barnes bingo, Round 2 B5: Bucky/Steve  
> Marvel Polyship bingo A3: “Lick it off.”

Tony was very proud to say that he made it halfway to the elevator without losing his shit over the two tragically unavailable alphas that were currently in the midst of post-orgasmic bliss. Neither did he embarrass himself by saying any of the appreciative comments that were at the tip of his tongue. The very same tongue that had been getting up close and personal with a sizable knot just a few minutes ago…

 _Oh God._ Tony swallowed heavily as his hole clenched around an imaginary cock and slick trickled free. 

With what felt like inhuman restraint, he kept himself from turning on his heel, sinking to his knees and letting his eager tongue explore the spot where the alphas’ bodies interlocked. He knew what Bucky’s knot tasted like, but what about Steve’s? Maybe he’d be able to wriggle the tip of his tongue past the constricting ring of muscle to steal a taste of his come, discover if it had the same sweet aftertaste that his mate’s had. Or would it be as potent as the primal alpha it had sprung from?

Tony nearly slapped himself in the face at the thought. _Don’t think of his knot. Don’t look back at their entangled bodies. Don’t breathe in their musk._

Scurrying the last few metres to the elevator, Tony shivered in equal amounts of exhilaration and disgust as the trickle of slick turned into a sluggish stream trailing down his leg. If he didn’t get out of here quickly, he’d be dripping all over the alphas’ pristine kitchen floor. He pressed the call button for the elevator perhaps more aggressively than he should have to keep up appearances, but he was way beyond caring at this point.

Every fiber of Tony’s body was screaming at him to turn around, to give the rutting pair of alphas a chance to put their knots to better use inside of him, filling him up one after the other until he was leaking another kind of fluid. Yet, he resisted, forced his wobbly knees to carry him into the salvation of the elevator car without once looking over his shoulder.

The doors closed behind him with an air of finality, cutting off the gratified moans that had been reverberating through Tony’s skull, begging him to stay and lend another hand. The omega breathed a sigh of relief, slumping against the smooth elevator wall. The cold metal felt heavenly against his overheated skin.

‘Boss, is everything alright?’ Friday’s Irish lilt was like music to his ears, grounding him in the present. 

‘I’m okay, sweet baby girl,’ Tony panted, his breath forming condensation spots on the wall. His nostrils flared as he caught a stray whiff of alpha pheromone on the air. ‘Please, ventilate the elevator while you take us up to the penthouse.’

‘Got it,’ she replied curtly. Above his head the ventilation kicked into hyperdrive with a whoosh, chasing away the last lingering notes of rut. The torrent of want that was wreaking havoc on Tony’s insides subsided like a wave rolling back to the sea. His skin was still burning up; sweaty in a way that spoke of long physical exertion. In reality, he hadn’t done much more than salivate all over Bucky Barnes’ delectable cock like it was his favourite flavour of lollipop. Tony hadn’t been the one getting his ass pounded by the most primal alpha in New York, although he’d almost wished it could have been the other way around. 

_How glorious that would have been_ , a traitorous part of his brain whispered, threatening to divulge all the lustful visions that Tony had been hard at work suppressing since he’d gotten his first look at how formidable the appendage between a super soldier’s legs could be.

‘Going up now,’ Friday cautioned as the elevator came to life with an electrical whirr, carrying him up to the penthouse where there would be no alphas in need of a hand, half-drunk on pheromones or otherwise. 

Grunting softly, Tony clunked his head against the elevator wall, hoping it would knock some good sense back into him. He was a forty-something-year-old omega on an inevitable path towards menopause, for fuck’s sake. He had no reason to get this hung up on an alpha, let alone a mated pair of them. No matter what his body desired, Tony had no plans of giving another alpha the privilege of knotting him, not after the act that had secured his legacy in the shape of one tiny pup with a winsome smile.

He pushed away from the wall with a sigh as he felt the elevator come to a stop and the doors opened onto his private kingdom. Supporting himself with one hand on the wall, he reluctantly dragged himself into the comfort of his living space and breathed in deeply as he did so, flooding his nostrils with the familiar scent of his own omegan pheromones and Harley’s less pronounced alpha scent. Tony was suddenly glad his pup wasn’t at home to see him like this, weak-kneed and trembling for a touch that would never come. If it were up to Tony, Harley would grow up free from all preconceived notions that came with secondary genders, free to build his own life away from the cage of antiquated values that his father had been caught up in.

The unpleasant ghosts from his past helped Tony find the strength to push through his hormonal weariness. As always, the memory of his father’s disdain and the society alphas’ sneers filled him with a burning kind of defiance, as if he needed to prove all over again that he was not a slave to his hormones like they all assumed he would be. To that young, suppressed part of Tony it didn’t matter that all those hateful alphas in his life were long since gone, in some cases literal dust in the wind. The old ghosts still spooked through his head from time to time, turning his mood sour.

Ignoring the line of slick that was now steadily trailing down one leg of his pants, Tony stumbled over to his pristine couch and finally allowed his knees to collapse under him. He landed on his back, the impact knocking the air from his lungs, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care, not when every single muscle in his body was refusing to relax, even in the plush embrace of the cushions. 

He was still burning up, Tony noted with no small amount of dismay. Droplets of sweat were forming on his brow, sliding down his face like little tears of effort. It made him feel sticky all over: his flushed face, his heaving chest and the nexus of pleasure between his legs, which appeared to be turning the seat of his pair of jeans into a swamp of slick. 

Wiping at his face in barely restrained disgust, Tony rolled over on his side to spare the couch from further suspicious stains and curled up into a little ball. He winced as the movement caused his lower stomach to clench painfully tight, treating him to another gush of cloyingly sweet fluids. 

_I am never going to be able to wear these jeans again_ , Tony thought, clutching at his stomach as another spike of heat ripped through it. Ideally, he’d better start losing his clothes altogether, before the brunt of the flash heat truly hit him and the fabric would begin to chafe like hell against his hypersensitive skin. 

Feebly, he reached for the bottom of his tank top and drew it up over his stomach, exposing the overheated flesh to the cool air. Goosebumps rose up as he ran a hand in soothing circles over his soft belly. He’d failed to regain most of the muscle tone in his abdomen after his pregnancy, exchanging sharp ridges for soft curves in the process. However, the upside of having a pup later in life was that Tony was definitely less attached to the continued existence of his six pack. He wasn’t the vain bastard from his twenties and early thirties anymore, constantly worrying about appearances and competing with more attractive alpha business rivals. Frankly, it was a miracle in itself he was still this healthy after coming so close to death on multiple occasions.

Aside from the loss of his defined abdomen, pregnancy had also introduced him to another less-than-pleasant side effect of being an unbonded omega: _flash heats_. Nobody had thought to warn Tony about the hell his bonding hormones would wreak on his life without a bondmate to synchronize with. There hadn’t even been a helpful leaflet that he could have picked up at the gynecologist’s office that hinted at what was waiting for him, which was just more evidence of how antiquated views on omegas still held sway in medicine. 

So, Tony had taken matters into his own hands and privately funded a research group that was looking into the origins of the biological phenomenon. What they’d found so far wasn’t exactly encouraging, but neither was it the stuff of living nightmares. Flash heats were not that complicated at a basic level: they were the hallmark of an unbonded but fruitful— _gah_ , Tony hated the sound of that word—omega. The result of hormones seeking out a connection that had never existed in the first place. The biological process was initiated by the close presence of potential mates with a high compatibility factor or, as Tony had discovered today, a substantial pheromone shower. All in all, flash heats were an uncomfortable (and very rare) part of his life until menopause would silence his volatile hormones. Other omegas weren’t that lucky.

For Tony, who was able to protect himself from prying eyes with top-of-the-line technology and strategic cash flows, they were mostly a giant inconvenience that got in the way of completing his to-do list. He got off easy with only an unproductive workday and the bitter taste of shame to live through. For less fortunate unbonded omegas, the flash heats could actually endanger their wellbeing. After all, it takes only one cruel alpha strolling by and getting the wrong idea to ruin an omega’s life forever. Robbed of their hard-won independence, chained to a stranger by the whims of their biological impulses—Tony couldn’t think of a worse fate. This had been his main motivation in reorienting the Maria Stark Foundation towards charities and research groups that focussed on omega issues.

In addition to better insight into his own gender, the latter had also given him a remarkable amount of knowledge about what drove alphas nuts, in the best and the worst kind of ways. Ironically, it was this knowledge about alpha physiology that had landed him in his current predicament.

‘Omega pheromones are nature’s greatest invention, my arse,’ he muttered darkly, wiping fresh sweat off his arms and chest, making sure to not press down too hard on the scarring left from the arc reactor. ‘Next time, you keep your mouth shut and let Barnes suffer under that adonis of his.’

Immediately, he felt a pang of regret at the callous turn his thoughts had taken. Bucky deserved better than having Tony curse him for fighting against his own biological imperative. The omega remembered all too well how sour the first few drops of pre-cum had tasted right until his clever mouth had twisted Bucky’s expression into one of triumphant pleasure. Then, the stream had grown delightfully sweet. _Addictive._

Tony licked his parched lips with a sigh, giving up on stemming the tide of his own arousal. The flash heat was blossoming inside his core like a poisonous flower, seductive, impossible to ignore for long. At this point, he’d better spend his remaining willpower on getting out of his stained jeans and hunkering down somewhere more comfortable and safe. His bedroom, preferably. 

Unfurling from his cramped pose, Tony groaned as the shift caused a fresh wave of fluid to liberally coat his inner thighs. It was almost enough to make him consider taking a shower first, but that would be wasted water in the face of what was yet to follow. Soon he’d be producing enough slick to turn the bathroom floor into a soap slide, and he didn’t particularly fancy slipping on the tile to gain a concussion as a medical bonus. No, the cold, impersonal touch of a doctor wouldn’t bring him any relief, but that didn’t bother him. After years of experience of being a single omega, Tony was more than capable of seeing his own desires fulfilled.

❈

_It should be illegal to be this tense after experiencing what’s probably the best orgasm in your life,_ Steve thought frustratedly as his knot delivered one last, weak spurt of come into Bucky’s welcoming body. Bent over the kitchen island like this, chest heaving and sides glistening with sweat, his mate looked as irresistible as on the day Steve first let the other alpha penetrate him in the privacy of their tiny, ramshackle apartment. The heat of the sun that summer week had crept under Steve’s skin, opening him up in a way that he could only recall through a haze of lust. He’d been an omega then, receiving and giving without reserve. These days, Steve took with a greed he was unable to curb.

A spike of bitterness cut through the post-orgasmic bliss he’d wanted to share with Bucky, and the room soured with the stench of his distressed pheromones.

Bucky stirred underneath him in response, wriggling slightly to test the give of Steve’s knot inside his abused hole as he turned to look over his shoulder. ‘Stevie, what’s wrong? You scent’s turned all sour.’

The glance he cast in Steve’s direction is full of concern, a knot forming on his brow, disrupting the expression of bliss he’d been wearing for the last half-hour as he failed to stifle the most obscene of his moans against the cold marble of the countertop. All rumpled from the passion of rut, Bucky was heart-wrenchingly beautiful, and Steve was ruining the moment for him in a spectacular fashion. By all accounts, he should be ecstatic for his mate. They’d been chasing this breakthrough for so long…and yet, Steve couldn’t help but feel like there was something _missing_.

Stilling Bucky’s agitated wriggling by pressing him into the countertop, the dominant alpha plastered himself against his mate’s back and began to stroke his side in broad sweeps. ‘Give me a minute.’

Steve couldn’t quite mask the faint growl in his voice, far from the reassuring tone he’d went for, but Bucky acquiesced to his wishes nonetheless, relaxing into the marble surface and patiently waiting for Steve to figure out just what the fuck was wrong with him. An alpha shouldn’t feel this vulnerable, this incomplete after spending a rut with their bondmate.

His skin felt like it’d been pulled too tight around his skeleton, the bony angles threatening to burst through the thin layer of fat and flesh until he was laid completely bare, exposing the ugly reality of the greedy beast inside him. Even his jaw ached with an urge to bite down that he found hard to place. 

Hoping to appease the part of him was always burning to conquer and claim, he clamped his mouth over the bonding mark on the slope of Bucky’s neck, sucking hard enough to bruise the sensitive flesh. The primal alpha inside him settled down at the rough show of dominance, the undeniable mark of the other alpha being _his_.

Bucky, still out of breath, let out a little noise of protest, batting ineffectively at Steve’s head. ‘Fuck, Stevie. Cut it out. I want to wear a shirt sometime this week.’

A rumble was the only audible response Steve’s anxiety-soaked brain could come up with, but he laved the angry red skin with gentle strokes from his tongue in commiseration. Bucky accepted his apology with a shiver of delight, rolling his hips languidly, milking the last drips of come from the dominant alpha’s shrinking knot.

Steve marvelled at how odd it was to see his partner being this relaxed after sex. Normally, Bucky’s muscles would be all cramped up in protest at the intrusion, but it seemed like adding his own knot to the mix—and Tony, _God_ , Steve couldn’t forget _Tony_ —had done the trick, melting the tension right out of his bones. Soon, Bucky’d liven up again, giddy with excitement at having finally found a workable solution to their most intimate problem, and Steve would much rather throw himself off Avengers Tower than kill that buzz for his partner. 

If Tony were present in the room, he would have laughed at Steve’s weak attempts to school his expression into something a little less… _on edge_. Frankly, the alpha didn’t even know why his brain was suddenly fixating on what the omega would think of his behaviour. Sure, he’d been a great help just now, but Tony’s attitude in the past few days had been less than sympathetic towards Steve’s feelings on the matter. It wasn't like he enjoyed being a slave to his body’s urges to dominate his mate at any cost. He wasn’t a sadist, and seeing Bucky all weary and vulnerable afterwards never failed to make him feel sick. Deep inside, Steve had come to realize that ‘primal alpha’ was nothing more than a fancy name for monster.

 _Fuck._ He was really failing at these happy thoughts, wasn’t he?

Hoping to pass off his frustrated huff as a noise of pleasure, Steve carefully slipped his cock free from Bucky, causing some of his come to dribble free. Milky droplets clung to the skin of Bucky’s thighs and cheeks. Almost subconsciously, Steve collected them on his fingers and stuffed them back where they came from with a twist of his fingers and a wet squelch, startling a surprised moan from the submissive alpha. He was good and full, just like the primal part of Steve wanted him to be always.

‘Hnng. Possessive,’ Bucky sighed as he flexed his stiff muscles experimentally and worked himself up to his elbows. The curve of his spine was elegant even when framed by all that corded muscle. If the tables had been turned way back when, Bucky would have made a damn pretty omega. That would have made their current situation a lot easier too…

 _Damnit_. Steve stepped away from the temptation of Bucky’s plump ass before his anger could bleed into his caress. Why couldn’t he get a grip? What in hell’s name was the primal alpha lurking underneath his skin begging him for?

 _Tony?_ Steve laughed bitterly, shaking his head to chase away a vision of the omega on his knees, mouth stuffed to brimming with alpha cock. Oh, how he’d hungered to replace Bucky’s knot with his, or just to reach out and wind his fingers through that thick, dark hair as the omega bobbed hungrily up and down. The tiny, little broken noises that had kept tumbling from Bucky’s lips had been a testament to how heavenly Tony could make an alpha feel. _If only…_

Steve’s train of thought stuttered to an abrupt end, horrified. Here he was, fresh from spending a rut with his bondmate of over seventy years, and the best thing his stupid hindbrain could do was fixate on an omega that held no great affection towards him. It certainly hadn’t been his stellar relationship with Steve that had incited Tony to lend them a hand. If anything, it had probably been his tentative friendship with Bucky that had driven him to do so. After all, the omega wouldn’t even let Steve babysit Harley, while the other alpha was welcome to participate in all the pretend tea parties his heart desired. Steve could smell the bias from a mile away.

As if to prove his own point, he inhaled deeply through his nose. A heady cocktail of pheromones, sweat and the potent aroma of rut-induced fever greeted him, comforting in its familiarity. With the reminder of exactly what they’d been up to for the last couple of days, he immediately began to feel more grounded. These were the smells of pleasure, of belonging, of the home he’d sought so desperately after waking up in the twenty-first century. Of course, home had found him first in the form of one concentrated ball of deadly, confused assassin.

Smiling at the memory of what the other Avengers liked to call ‘Bucky’s raccoon days,’ Steve patted his mate’s hip fondly. ‘I’ll get us some water and a flannel to clean up this mess. Back in a sec.’

‘You’d better,’ Bucky mumbled, lazily turning around to watch him leave with hooded eyes. He was a sucker for Steve’s ass and never passed up an opportunity to ogle it. 

Steve couldn’t help but indulge him a little, making sure his muscles were flexing in a pleasing fashion as he sauntered to their shared bathroom on the other side of the apartment. His route took him right past the elevator doors that Tony had disappeared through scarcely half an hour before, but the alpha wasn’t exactly paying attention to that particular detail as he unashamedly strutted his stuff. Then, his little toe unexpectedly hit a patch of something wet and sticky.

Freezing on the spot with a noise of surprise, Steve peered down at the kitchen floor. The tiles should have been pristine, since the cleaning crew had swept through the place four days before, and he and Bucky hadn’t exactly been fornicating right in front of the primary entrance to their home. (They hadn’t quite dared to undertake that kind of bedroom adventure just yet.) 

Which left the question: what the hell had spilled onto the floor? Steve squinted at the trail of clear droplets that led straight to the elevator. Had Tony tracked in oil from the workshop?

‘Lost your confidence, Stevie?’ Bucky called out to him teasingly, impatient for the show to continue. ‘Should I help you come find it?’ 

Ignoring the salacious offer, Steve bent through his knees and scooped a drop of the liquid up with the tip of his finger. It felt thick and almost mucusy against his skin. Steve got the oddest feeling that he ought to recognize what strange substance was clinging to him, but he drew a blank. Frowning deeply, he brought it up to his nose and took a cautious sniff.

Metal, blueberry and a dangerous spark of fire invaded Steve’s nose as he inhaled deeply. The sharp notes danced in the air, kicking the greedy monster that slumbered at the back of Steve’s brain wide-awake. 

_Titillating. Seductive. Irresistible._

Not unlike the omega in heat the slick originated from, he thought with a tortured moan. If he hadn’t just witnessed Tony walking out on them, he would have identified the liquid as coming from a particularly strong bottle of perfume, but Tony hadn’t been wearing any cologne when he came in. Frankly, he shouldn’t pick up the habit if his heat alone could make him smell this delectable.

He barely registered Bucky coming up behind him until his mate laid a metal hand on his shoulder and squeezed hard. ‘Stand down, alpha. That’s not a tail for you to chase.’

With a jolt, Steve realized he’d been licking his fingers, savouring the slick as if it was the nectar of the gods. Hungry rumbles emanated from his throat like he was some kind of starving beast. No wonder Bucky’s grip had turned from a little painful to unforgiving.

Revulsion and lust warred for prominence in his mind as Steve stared in disbelief at his fingers, now glistening from saliva. _What the fuck was he doing?_

Nausea brewed at the pit of his stomach, powered by a mix of raging hormones and self-disgust. He hadn’t ever believed himself to be the sex-obsessed alpha that became an animal at the first hint of heat in the air. That was not who Steve was. Except, it seemed, when it came to Tony Stark. 

Steve was suddenly struck by the genuine fear that they’d involuntarily opened a can of worms by allowing Tony to interfere in their sex life. He should never have gotten that close while they were still in the throes of rut. Steve knew well enough that pheromones were not a thing to be casually thrown about when an alpha was in a susceptible state. He was painfully aware of what kind of violence alphas could be brought to when all logical thought fled from their minds and only the need for gratification was left. He did not trust any alpha to resist that kind of temptation when it was right in front of their nose. Then again, _Bucky_ didn’t appear to suffer from any undue urges. 

On the contrary, his mate’s skin glowed a healthy pink in the low kitchen lights. His gaze was hard, though, as he pulled roughly at Steve’s shoulder, signalling the dominant alpha to get to his feet. Steve burned with shame at his weakness. 

‘Buck,’ he said hoarsely, feverishly looking for words that would make this right. ‘This doesn’t mean anything. I--’

‘Of course it doesn’t mean anything, punk,’ the other alpha cut him off. Steve got the impression he'd be rolling his eyes if the situation hadn't been so serious. 'I've seen Tony too, smelt him, felt him. He's a damn attractive omega, and it doesn't surprise me that he's too much for your poor, little primal nose. Honestly, if he'd offered more than a hand, I'd have been sorely tempted to accept.' His hand wound itself into Steve's hair as the dominant alpha rose up from his knees. Bucky pressed their equally sweaty foreheads together, and for the first time Steve caught a hint of undisguised lust peeking through the veil of pheromones.

'We'd have shared him, alright. Just like the sisters taught us to at school, like two good boys,' Bucky laughed bitterly. 'But the facts are that Tony didn't offer or ask for our aid, and having us intervening in his private business is probably the last thing he wants.'

_An omega alone and in heat is vulnerable,_ the traitorous primal alpha of Steve whispered, smirking salaciously. _He’d make an easy target for his enemies. We should really go up there and check that he’s safe._

'If he’s suffering because of us, shouldn’t we at least try to help him out in return?’ Steve reasoned weakly, knowing that giving into that part of him was pure madness. Still, he couldn't stop himself from wondering what that would be like. He and Bucky quenching the fire of Tony's heat by unleashing a torrent of pleasure upon him. It would be the greatest act of teamwork they'd ever undertaken.

Bucky shook his head decisively. The hot press of his skin against Steve's threatened to burn the primal alpha if he even thought about setting a foot out of line. 'In our dreams, punk. We can't go to him in this state or we'll both do things we’ll regret. Hurting him has never been an option, not after all the time and effort he invested in helping me find myself again.’

Steve swallowed heavily past the lump in his throat, hoping to push down the greedy monster with the same notion, and slowly nodded. 'You're right. I've lost my mind, Buck.'

An almost-smile broke through Bucky's severe facade, eyes crinkling at the corners. 'Have you looked in the bathroom yet? Rumour has it that common sense likes to hide in-between the washcloths.'

Steve snorted, leaning back from the embrace. 'Really? I've never heard that old wives' tale, but if you want, I'll go see if I can get my hands on some.'

'Best of luck, Captain.' Bucky slipped his hand from Steve's hair to swat at his ass instead. He sighed dreamily at the sound of flesh meeting flesh. 'Still hard as a rock…'

'Pervert,' Steve threw back in mock indignation, delighting in the sting of his backside as he stepped away from the seductive trail of slick. 

Bucky's smile only grew wider. 'And you're a damn lucky bastard for having an kickass alpha mate who understands some of what you're experiencing.'

'Ain't that the truth,' Steve agreed solemnly. 'Now where did I put the good flannel?'

From there, his feet swiftly carried him to the master bathroom. Now that the primal part of him had been successfully denied, Steve was able to shake off some of the fear and anxiety that had been plaguing him. When he caught sight of himself in the bathroom mirror, the set of his shoulders noticeably relaxed. Who knew that practicing self-restraint could feel this good? Maybe he should explore that further. Figure out to which extent he could deny his own internal desire to dominate. 

Behind him, the white bathtub gleamed innocently as a devious plan began to take shape inside his mind.

'Hey, Buck,' he called over his shoulder. 'You up for a shower?'

The reply was immediate. 'Make it a bath and I'm your man.'

❈

Taking a hot bath was not far from Tony’s mind either when he collapsed face-first onto his bed and muffled a scream of frustration in his premium sheets. The silk cooled down his skin a little as he soiled it with sweat and pre-come. Despite his bedroom being depressingly devoid of company, it felt like somebody out there was judging him for not stopping his hips from rutting into the mattress, hopelessly trying to soothe an ache that only another warm body would be able to alleviate. He felt feverish, somehow hungry and thirsty at the same time, and he longed for a tall glass of water. Preferably dorito-shaped and part of a complementary set. Of course, his silent wish was doomed to fall on deaf ears, but Tony’d had many years to get used to the bitter taste of disappointment. 

He knew what he needed to get this hormonal wildfire under control. The ache at his core had grown into a powerful pulse, begging him to feed his body what it craved, but he managed to push through the haze, crawling further up the bed on his hands and knees. Maybe subconsciously presenting for a pair of invisible alphas who’d probably scoff at what an aging omega like him had to offer.

_An alpha’s sperm has zero nutritional value or magical properties_ , Tony stubbornly reminded himself as he scrambled over to the opposite edge of the mattress and reached out to unlock the top drawer of his nightstand. There was no reason an omega should be dependent on it to sate their physical desires when it could be so easily substituted by a less risky alternative.

Tony blindly scrounged through the contents of the nightstand. Since he’d given birth to Harley, he hadn’t much cause to go rooting around in his special drawer - his body prioritizing childcare above sexual gratification, but now he was feeling the negative effect of those long months of celibacy rather keenly. It was abundantly clear that his cravings wouldn’t be alleviated by the touch of his own hand this time. He needed the full package deal and quickly too, before his mind would become truly lost to the heat.

A wave of relief coursed through Tony as his hand bumped up against something long, curved and metallic. _Gotcha._

Triumphant and leagues beyond shame, he lifted his most secret creation out of the drawer and held it up in admiration. His phallic masterpiece emerged proudly from the tight circle of his fist: an exquisitely crafted replica of a real-life alpha cock, veined and thick in all the right places. At first glance, his special dildo looked like any other steel sex toy on the market, but appearances could be deceiving. Tony had poured every drop of his genius and sexual experience into adding extra features that easily raised it high above anything currently on the market. 

Tony lovingly traced the sculpted veins on the toy with his fingertips until he hit the base, where a slight bulge betrayed his very favourite feature: a mechanism that perfectly copied the natural swelling and pulsing of an alpha’s knot. It had taken a lot of work to get it to function perfectly, but Tony had never stopped believing that he was capable of recreating the instrument that had given him the best sexual experience of his life. Next to this knotting dildo, even alphas as impressive as Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes would have to give it their all in order to not pale in comparison. 

Running his fingers over the toy one last time, Tony admired the scope of his own inventiveness. His hole clenched just at the prospect of the smooth metal filling him up to bursting. The slick leaking from his hole would probably be enough to ease the insertion of the toy, but a little extra lubrication never hurt. Naturally, he could just grab his spare bottle of lube from the same drawer he’d retrieved the toy from, but the heat was turning him lazy in the best sense of the word. Plus, his earlier encounter with the resident alpha pair had sparked an idea…

Laying back in the pile of pillows he kept arranged against the headboard—a habit his therapist would most definitely link to latent nesting urges—Tony let his heavy body sink into the feathery clouds and just breathed in the atmosphere of the room in. Underneath the sharp, spicy scent of his own arousal lingered a softness that called to mind a strong sense of security. The walls of his bedroom might not be those of an impregnable fortress, but Tony had plenty of defenses in his arsenal to ensure that not even the most crazed alpha would be able to breach his sanctuary.

Directing his gaze to the ceiling, even though that was not where she dwelled, he addressed his favorite baby girl: ‘Friday, I’m going in. Engage lockdown protocol.’

‘You’ve got it, boss,’ came her instant reply, accompanied by the sound of airlocks engaging. ‘Take care.’

‘Will do, sweetie.’

With his loyal AI watching out for any threats to his well-being, Tony’s muscles finally relaxed, turning to putty in the comfortable embrace of the pillows and sheets. He was as ready as he’d ever be. 

Smiling lazily, he brought the dildo up to his face and gave the rounded tip an exploratory lick. The touch of the metal surface against his tongue was nothing like the insistent press of living flesh quivering under his ministrations, but it would do. Inevitably, his mind wandered to how the two cocks he’d had in his mouth today compared to each other.

Tony considered himself a consummate multitasker. His tongue was an instrument of not only snark and pleasure, but also an excellent tool to measure size and width. While his motivation for helping Bucky might not have been getting his hands on the approximate dimensions of the alpha’s penis, it was a rather enjoyable bonus. 

For example, Tony thought as he nimbly wound his tongue around the head, liberally coating it in saliva, Bucky’s cock fell quite nicely into the category that he’d label as ‘a generous helping’. It wasn’t the ridiculously giant size that Avengers porn parodies tried to paint it as, but the omega wouldn’t call it average either. It had considerable girth, enough to create a wonderful burning sensation as it stretched an omega’s rim, and the balls had rolled against his hand with just the right amount of bounce. Tony appreciated how they hadn’t unnecessarily slapped him in the chin as he’d swallowed the alpha down to the root until his jaw ached in protest. Bucky had behaved like a true gentleman right until his knot had started to pop and his thrusts had turned desperate. By then, the omega had wisely withdrawn to a position where he could comfortably suck the alpha’s member without the added danger of choking on his substantial knot. 

Tony mimicked those movements now as he slowly worked his mouth down the metal dildo. His tongue traced the textured lines of the artificial veins, teasing where a real life alpha would be most sensitive. Bucky had liked his precision, responding with a crescendo of deep groans that had Tony’s eager mouth overflowing in no time. The toy was now dripping with his saliva, more than sufficient for its intended purpose, but Tony couldn’t quite bring himself to abandon his stroll down memory lane.

Instead, he started to fixate on the strange taste of the dildo. He’d never managed to invent a surefire way to cover up the metallic taste, which he was discovering to be severely lacking when compared to the real life experience. Bucky had tasted amazing while writhing in pleasure. Well, at first, his cum had been a little sour, probably thanks to the many years of being kept from properly mating, but once Tony had gotten that stubborn knot to pop, it had tasted like nirvana. Utterly delectable. Honestly, his come had gone down smoother than any kind of exotic liquor that the omega had ever experimented with.

Bucky had looked so sweet too when he came down his throat, relief stark in his features. In that moment Tony had witnessed what it would be like to have a starving man come home to a five-course meal. Knowing that Bucky’s enthusiastic abandon had been caused by his mouth and hands, had filled the omega with heady visions. For a brief moment, he’d entertained the wild plan of pushing both alphas back so he could climb up on the countertop, kick off his jeans and spread his legs to welcome that beautiful cock inside of him. With the amount of slick his flash heat was producing, Bucky’s knot would have had no trouble sliding past the warm ring of muscle. Then, Bucky would be fucking him while Steve drove them forward with powerful thrusts. 

_A harmonic trinity._

The omega mewled at the thought, giving one last languid suck on the toy before pulling back. A string of saliva extended from his wet lips to the dripping shell of the dildo as he withdrew it, and Tony absently licked his lips to detach it. Time to see if this baby lived up to the fantasies that he’d been concocting.

Scooting down in the pile of cushions, Tony drew up his knees and canted his hips, exposing his dripping hole to the chilled air of the bedroom. Shivering, he fumbled with the toy, nearly dropping it in his haste to position it at the right angle. He almost wished he was doing this in his dressing room, so he could watch the dildo open him up in the reflection of the big floor-length mirror. He could make an educated guess at what he looked like in this moment: hair artlessly tousled, tiny rivulets of sweat working their way down his pecs and stomach to dampen the trimmed patch of curls at the base of his cock, eyes dark and ravenous as he fell in love with himself all over again. Narcissus had been an omega, after all. 

_You’d look like perfection,_ the heat-drunk omega that lived in his hindbrain murmured as Tony dragged his nails down his chest, trying to imagine what effect that would create in the reflection. _Any alpha that entered through that door would be stupid not to fall to their knees and worship at your bedside._

‘I’d rather they’d worship _in_ my bed, thank you,’ Tony replied, short of breath, as he twisted one of his nipples. Little arcs of lightning set his skin alight as he repeated the action on the other side, giving the sensitive nubs the attention they so richly deserved after months of loyal service. Some part of him was sad that they didn’t leak milk anymore, but the omega guessed that Harley was at an age where he could comfortably go without. Tony would simply have to wait until his pup got a baby brother or sister to recapture the feeling.

Abruptly, the omega paused in his ministrations, toy wavering a hair's breadth away from his waiting hole. _Where had that thought come from?_

The heat-induced breeding hormones must be getting to him. The idea of letting an alpha claim that privilege again was as enticing as it was terrifying. Going by how well he’d picked the first one and the pair of potential sires he was currently considering, Tony’s judgement clearly wasn’t to be trusted. God knows Pepper had tried to fill the void to the best of her ability after he’d so carelessly tumbled into bed with _the alpha_ without taking the proper precautions. 

Shaking his head to get rid of the memories of that particular deed, Tony refocussed his energies on manoeuvring the dildo with mathematical precision into the exact angle he wanted it to penetrate him. His erection had wilted a bit at the intrusive thoughts his mind had dug up from the dark pit of his past, but he grasped it firmly and brought it back with a few quick strokes, twisting his fingers around the tip for the extra zing of pleasure it sent through his nervous system. Arching his back slightly, he ran the tip of the toy around his rim, testing how much resistance was left in his most headstrong of muscles.

As expected, his flesh parted for the dildo like the Red Sea had for Moses, and his hole eagerly swallowed up the first half of the toy without a problem. Tony threw his head back and stifled a moan at the long-anticipated intrusion, the indescribable drag of textured metal against his hot-blooded insides. The veiny ridges dug into his walls—a tickling sensation that turned absolutely maddening as the omega unconsciously clenched down. Tony struggled to breathe with the ebb and flow of the pleasure and felt some of his ruminations recede back into the obscure crevices of his brain. No worries about past mistakes could touch him here at the precipice of his happy place, where his body and mind slowly melded into one ebullient entity. 

Grinning in pure joy, Tony drove his invention home with one sharp twist of his wrist, impaling himself on the unforgiving length of steel. The harsh intrusion knocked the air out of Tony’s lungs and he choked out a laugh, elated. His thighs trembled with the effort of keeping still as he acclimatized. Soft gasps fell from Tony’s lips as he worked the toy, and his inner walls started to mold themselves to the exact dimensions of the toy, his body warring over wanting to push the toy out or keep it in at all costs.

 _This_ , he sighed dreamily as the insistent ache in his lower stomach eased. _This is heaven._

The only thing that could possibly make this better was if the metal cock inside him would miraculously turn into living flesh and start thrusting by itself, so that Tony could just lay back and take it. Unfortunately, he was still the sole occupant of the room and would have to put in the work himself. Withdrawing the dildo, now positively shiny with saliva and slick, the omega let out a long breath, releasing some of the anticipatory tension from his muscles, and slammed the toy back inside, penetrating much deeper than it had been before.

Tony keened, clawing at the sheets, as the tip hit him squarely in that sweet spot and a mix of pain-pleasure burst forth from his prostate. He could barely keep himself from writhing on the bed as he rode out that first wave and then repeated the motion one, two, five—he lost count. Yes, this was how an alpha would do it, pushing him down on the mattress and just nailing that spot with every ruthless thrust as their knot pressed impatiently against his hole, ready to split him open even further.

Tony’s unattended member wept precum as it jolted up and down under the onslaught of the artificial cock, splattering his chest in little white droplets. Perhaps if the flash heat hadn’t been addling his mind, he would have felt more ashamed of his excitement at being used for sexual gratification like that. Yet, Tony could never help hungering after the primal brutality of being dominated in the bedroom by a strong alpha. Worst of all, he had two of them up for grabs, living and fucking in this very Tower while Tony utterly exhausted himself trying to recreate the experience of the best sex he’d ever had. Why weren’t they clawing at his door, begging to be let in to service him and fill him up with thick ropes of their come? Tony wanted a repeat performance of that perfect roll in the hay, damnit. 

Unbidden, visions of that night return to his mind’s eye, and Tony nearly cried in frustration at not having the alpha pressed up against him. That glorious wall of rippling muscle, the soft texture of blonde hair captured between his clawing fingers, the achingly slow pace at which his knot had worked itself inside Tony’s body. It had been the most glorious kind of torture, slow and deliberate. The alpha’s blue gaze had narrowed in concentration as he tried to find out which angle would make the omega scream the loudest, only to swallow half of those desperate sounds up with his open-mouthed kisses. Long gone had been the fumbling young man that spoke in awkward, drunken endearments, replaced by a tactical genius whose jaw would clench in determination as he fine-tuned his performance to deadly effect.

A forlorn whine ripped itself from Tony’s throat at the thought of never having that again. He wanted to belong to that alpha, wanted to be claimed by him, wanted to feel that knot lodge inside him where it would paint his inner walls white with come. 

Frenzied, Tony’s thumb searched for the small button at the bottom of his toy and pressed down. Immediately, the bulge at the base started to inflate thanks to an internal mechanism, metal shell expanding and stretching the omega’s pliant hole as he continued to feverishly work the dildo in and out of him.

‘ _So close_ ,’ Tony sobbed to the invisible spectre of his alpha. ‘Please, let me have it.’

Just as the artificial knot catches on his rim, locking the metal cock inside and making it almost impossible to continue thrusting, Tony is hit by the phantom sensation of blunt teeth clamping down on the slope of his neck, drawing blood.

Tony’s vision whited out as he was catapulted into orgasm, and his untouched cock spurted hot come all over his stomach and chest, creating a lovely latticework of white as he cried out a name he’d sworn he would never utter inside his bedroom again.

 _Mine_ , the alpha spectre whispered in a heartbreakingly familiar voice, asserting his dominance as he gave Tony the home he’d always craved. _Ours._

❈

By the time the bathtub was close to being full, Steve’s nerves had been replaced by a more pleasant sort of anticipation. The determination to atone for his bad mood earlier was making his heart thrum. It matched the beat of the powerful jets hitting porcelain-enameled steel, heavy and rhythmic, while his thoughts swirled like the water, building up a plan that—unlike the water—was neither light nor frothy.

Steve knew that testing his own self-restraint when it came to sexual exploits was potentially opening the door for a whole lot of trouble to slip through. Maybe doing this after just coming off a rut was pushing it a little too far, but who was to say he’d ever find the courage to experiment like this again later? Finding a measure of control over his primal alpha side had been his dearest wish after saving his mate from Azzano and discovering just how much his transformation had screwed up their dynamic. He had to get back some control—he owed it to Bucky and all the other people his primal instincts might threaten in the future. He thought of Tony, especially, alone in his penthouse as the heat ripped through him, unaware of the fact that he’d come dangerously close to receiving a visit from a rut-addled alpha. 

Steve remembered the heats of his past with a mix of discomfort and longing. The times and his relationships had been simpler then, but the heat-induced pain had still been debilitating every time Bucky hadn’t been able to get free from work to help him through it. As a result, Steve had way too many memories of screaming himself hoarse as he thrashed in his slick-soaked bedsheets, begging for his mate. It was the kind of torture he’d never wish on any human being. 

The fact that Tony had voluntarily chosen to undergo his heats alone awed the alpha. Going up to the penthouse and offering his services would have been a grave insult to such a proud and tenacious man. Steve would simply have to learn to live with the sad fact that he didn’t have a ready-made battle plan for every personal problem his team members encountered. Sometimes they needed to be left to their own devices and routines. His inner alpha rankled at the thought, feeling impotent in the face of a challenge, but Steve silenced the voice with a firm mental shove. Tonight, his inner alpha would have no say in what Steve did or didn’t do.

The water in the tub had risen swiftly while Steve was busy pondering omega issues; he had to rush to close the valve before it could flood the bathroom. Adding Bucky’s favourite lavender bath salts to the water as a finishing touch, the alpha concluded that there was no further reason to delay the inevitable. In one fluid motion Steve stepped into the tub and lowered himself into the hot embrace of the water, groaning as it eased some of the strain from his muscles.

‘Damn, ruts really take it of you, serum or no serum,’ he remarked to himself. He leaned his head back against the tub’s edge and closed his eyes for one long, glorious minute as the healing waters began to do their work.

‘Is that profanity I heard?’ Bucky intruded upon his mental respite, voice chipper. ‘I’m appalled, Captain Rogers. Your manners have really taken a nosedive since you spent a few years getting shot at.’

When Steve flicked open his eyes, his mate was standing stark-naked in the doorway, hip cocked coyly to the side as his gaze roamed over the dominant alpha’s splayed physique. Bucky’s lips curled in that devastating manner of his, hooded eyes and fluttering lashes included, stoking the bonfire of desire in Steve’s belly anew. In that moment, he wanted nothing more than to drag the older man into the water with him and kiss that smug expression clean off his delectable lips, but he had a plan. Restraint had to be practiced and his tongue, lips and teeth could be put to better use in other places.

Bucky took his silence as permission to approach his steaming oasis, lifting up two clinking bottles of beer in offering. ‘I took the liberty of grabbing us the good stuff. We both deserve it after the kind of day we’ve had.’

‘Good thinking,’ Steve grinned as he sat up to take the bottles so Bucky could step into the tub without the risk of slipping. He snickered as he saw the German label already peeling off the sweating glass. Raiding liquor stashes belonging to German officers had been an immensely popular activity among the Howling Commandos, and Steve remembered those rare evenings of revelry with great fondness. His new strength had come in handy corralling an inebriated Bucky into their tent and keeping him there, preferably trapped underneath his own broader frame.

Nowadays, neither of them indulged in alcohol outside of parties or galas hosted in the Avengers’ honour. Since he got injected with the serum, Steve wasn’t able to get drunk even if he were to marinate himself in a bath of whisky rye, and his mate had joined the club after Hydra saw its chance to test their version of the formula. With the possibility of intoxication removed, there simply wasn’tmuch of an incentive to drink, except to enjoy the taste. 

Before Bucky had miraculously fought his way back into his life, however, Steve had sampled a fair deal of Asgardian mead and had wound up drunker than he’d ever been in his non-serum life. The brew had packed such a punch that the alpha had lost huge chunks of his memory from that particular night. He could recollect the first three hours of the party, but then his brain promptly jump-cut towaking up on the floor of the common room kitchen with zero clue as to what he’d been up to during the time in between. Steve still wondered if that lost night would come to bite him back in the ass someday.

‘Jesus,’ Bucky cursed softly as he splashed him with lavender-scented water. ‘You’re mind’s really going into overdrive today, isn’t it? I can practically feel your brain vibrate inside your skull.’

Steve hummed and took a long sip of his beer before putting it aside and watched Bucky chug his in an exaggerated show of thirst. ‘Maybe it just really likes to think about you.’

A roll of eyes told him his mate was having none of his weak attempt at deflection. ‘Sure, all those virtues of mine you like to brood over in your spare time. Don’t bullshit me, doll, and put those brain cells to better use.’ He lifted his foot out of the water and wiggled his toes demonstratively. ‘Take a hint and treat your mate to a spa day package for once.’

The purpose of this entire bath retreat returned to Steve in a flash. ‘Oh, I’ll be treating you, alright,’ he said with a playful leer, deepening his voice into a register that spelled danger to whichever idiot planned on challenging him. ‘Finish your beer and we can get started.’

Wrinkles appeared on the otherwise smooth expanse of Bucky’s forehead as confusion warred with curiosity. ‘I don’t know if I like where this mood of yours is leading,’ he frowned, but he obeyed Steve’s order nonetheless, throwing back the last dregs of his beer in one big gulp. 

As he slightly lifted himself up to place the bottle on the floor next to the tub, the dominant alpha seized his chance, lunging forward to grab his mate by the hips and violently sloshing the water around in the process. Instantly, a look of wariness stole over Bucky’s face. Guided by years of instinct and survival, he made himself go loose-limbed in the steel grip, allowing Steve to manipulate his body as he saw fit. His gaze was alert, though, monitoring the other alpha for the slightest shift in mood that could indicate a need to assert his dominance. Bucky might be patient with him most of the time, but he did not let Steve get away with any violent behaviour. (If it would ever come to that, Bucky would have him on his back in two seconds flat without breaking a sweat. He was the deadly weapon, after all, and Steve was the improvised soldier.)

Gazing unreservedly into Bucky’s stormy grey eyes, Steve softened his expression to communicate that he harboured no such intent as he gently pushed his mate up and backwards onto the edge of the tub, until Bucky had his back against the wall. Sliding his hands down from Bucky’s hips to his knees, the dominant alpha pulled his legs apart and slotted himself between them.

‘What the hell are you up to now, Stevie?’ Bucky’s voice trembled with an emotion that might have been nerves, but when Steve slid a hand up his thigh and squeezed, he stilled. 

‘Indulge me.’ Steve leaned in to reward him for his willingness to obey with a peck on the lips. When he withdrew, he was all business.

‘Scoot closer.’ He delivered the command with just enough sternness to signal he meant business.

‘Aye, alpha,’ came the hoarse reply as Bucky compliantly shifted his lower body forward on the ledge, pressing his naked back into the cold tile to maintain his balance. This was only made more difficult as Steve slid his arms under the other alpha’s knees and lifted them to rest upon his shoulders. His mate made a noise of surprise and grabbed hold of the edge of the tub, vibranium clashing against steel.

Grinning from ear to ear, Steve took a second to check that Bucky was seated comfortably and wouldn’t be bothered by any cramping muscles before he zeroed in on the reason why he’d manoeuvred them into this position. Bucky’s cock had recovered enough to fill up again and it stiffened further as Steve carefully moved it out of the way, so he could get a good look at the evening’s big event. Shyly hiding in the shadow of his balls, the alpha’s hole beckoned, still sluggishly leaking come, perineum glistening with a pearly sheen.

Naturally, Steve’s first instinct was to stuff his come right back where it belonged, decorating the inside of his mate’s body just like he’d done in the kitchen. The primal part of him demanded the evidence of his sexual prowess be displayed and treated with the right amount of respect, but that didn’t make for a pleasant clean-up for Bucky later. Steve could just about imagine the accusing looks the other alpha would send in his direction as he scrubbed away flaking specks of come. Yeah, he wasn’t going to risk fouling Bucky’s mood after he’d finally started feeling better. Anyway, getting him dirtier would be highly counterproductive in this setting. A bath was supposed to get you clean, after all, and Steve knew exactly how he was going to expedite that process.

Bucky’s breath stuttered as he ducked his head and pressed a trail of soft kisses down the inside of the submissive alpha’s thigh, pausing every so often to suck a bruise into the sensitive flesh. As he laved the same spots with his tongue to soothe the abused skin, he could taste Bucky’s mounting excitement in the salty tang of his sweat - laced with the faintest hint of bergamot, Bucky’s unique scent. 

The undertone was all the approval Steve needed to proceed, nuzzling his way further down to the crease where thigh became groin. Bucky’s pubic hair was darker than the hair on his head, and the coarse strands tickled his cheeks as he teasingly rubbed his nose through the patch, deliberately ignoring the cock that was now proudly standing at attention, flushed with desire. Steve didn’t need to read his lover’s mind to know that Bucky wanted him to pay a visit there next; his legs were shivering in badly concealed anticipation.

There was a tug on his hair as Bucky placed a demanding hand at the back of his head. ‘Stevie, please?’

‘Please what?’ He cocked his head to the side, grazing the underside of Bucky’s member with the tip of his nose on purpose. ‘You’re going to have to work on your negotiation skills, Buck. They’re way below standard.’

Bucky’s glare was full of venom, adding fire to the inferno building inside the dominant alpha’s stomach. ‘Put your mouth on my cock, you incorrigible bastard,’ he bit out, digging the heels of his feet deep into Steve’s rib cage to spur him on. ‘Pretty please with a cherry on top.’

Grunting at the pressure, Steve responded by gripping Bucky tighter at the hips, effectively stopping him from rocking them in either direction. ‘An acceptable proposal,’ he pretended to consider the other’s wish with a serious expression. ‘But the delivery leaves much to be desired, so I’ll have to decline your request.’

‘You fucking punk,’ Bucky cursed, wriggling furiously in a fruitless attempt to free himself from his mate’s hold. From an outsider’s perspective, the sight of the alpha struggling might be interpreted as genuine distress, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. 

As Steve treated him to his cheekiest smile, Bucky’s gaze became scorching. They had played this game hundreds of times in every possible setting, from battlefields to the luxurious confines of the Tower. They were both all too aware of what lines not to cross when it came to the other’s triggers, and Bucky didn’t mind the displays of dominance as long as Steve was careful not to bring up anything unpleasant from his past. 

So, as if to spite the agitated alpha, Steve nibbled at the swell of his knot before announcing cheerfully: ‘Well, since your cock has already received the royal treatment today, I thought it would be nice to close the night off with a gentler send-off.’ Bucky made a breathless noise of surprise as he caught on to what Steve was planning. ‘Tony might have sucked you off like a champion, sweetheart, but I’m going to eat you out until he can hear you begging for release up in that penthouse of his.’

‘Hell yes,’ Bucky’s voice broke as a shiver wracked through his body. 

Glancing up one last time, Steve memorized his mate’s pleasure-darkened eyes, flushed skin and angrily leaking member. A possessive thrill took hold of him at the realization that this gorgeous alpha, a deadly predator in his own right, was all his.

‘ _Mine_ ,’ the primal part of him rumbled through his vocal cords.

‘Only if you live up to your promises, _alpha_.’

 _Oh, just you wait._ Steve wasn’t planning to disappoint.

On the off-chance that his mate would have a sudden change of mind, he entangled one of his hands with Bucky’s flesh one as he slowly lowered his head to begin his task. It made keeping his balance more difficult, but that was a small price to pay for making sure that Bucky was okay with playing the submissive alpha after coming off such a high. 

Steve knew all too well that unexpected or quick shifts in sexual roles could wreak havoc on hormones in any of the secondary genders if not handled with the utmost care. The last thing he wanted was for either of them to have a disproportional reaction to what had transpired in the kitchen. There was no omega present to calm them down or ease the friction that might come to the fore. This made it doubly important for Steve to focus on caring for his bonded, instead of giving into the urge to mindlessly claim like his primal aspect would like him to. 

However, as his head sunk lower, Bucky’s only outward expression of emotion was the wide-eyed look of wonder in his eyes. Rimming was a sexual activity that most alphas didn’t indulge in without an omega involved. A stupid point of view if you asked Steve, because everyone deserved the joy of having their ass eaten out at least once. After having been on the receiving end for the first phase of his sexual life, the former omega delighted in performing that particular service in return whenever Bucky indicated that he was too sore to pop a knot inside of him. Their shared healing factor made that a rare event though, so rimjobs remained reserved for special occasions.

Now confident that his mate was firmly on board, Steve dropped his gaze to the puckered hole and wetted his lips. Bucky’s rim was not as pliant as an omega’s would have been, but the ring of muscles was loose and relaxed from the repeated bouts of rutting they’d engaged in over the last few days. Steve’s tongue would glide in without any trouble.

‘Fucking perfect,’ he whispered, knowing that his partner’s enhanced hearing would pick the words up, and blew softly over the furled skin. Goosebumps rose on Bucky’s thighs as he gasped, a wanton noise so devoid of the bravado he’d shown a few minutes earlier that Steve had genuine trouble resisting the urge to surge up and claim his mouth in a bruising kiss.

The dominant alpha swallowed heavily, fighting back the wave of arousal that was starting to cloud his thoughts. Here came the important part: the first quick dart of his tongue across the curve of Bucky’s left cheek to catch a bead of sweat rolling down. The fleeting touch hit his mate with the force of a bullet as it landed in an unexpected place and his groan of frustration was all the greater for it. Steve immediately followed it up with a second swipe, this time on the opposite cheek and closer to the intended goal. As an afterthought he delivered a quick bite to both spots, causing two identical, red flowers to bloom on either side of the stretched muscle.

At this point his self-restraint was beginning to wear a bit thin though, mirroring the impatience apparent in Bucky’s rapid breathing, and he couldn’t help but place the next broad stroke of his tongue right where they both desired it. Bucky sighed as Steve lapped at his hole, adding his saliva to the glistening layer of fluid coating his perineum and crack. A dull thunk betrayed that he’d let his head fall back against the tile, eyes closed to savour the intimate caress. He must have looked a vision, but Steve was too entranced by the familiar taste of his own come to divert his attention from the now quivering ring of muscle.

The primal alpha again stirred inside of him, seduced by the display and practically vibrating with lust. For once, their cravings were perfectly aligned. 

As the heat rose to a boiling point in his belly, Steve extended his tongue and let its tip dance along the edges in a tight circle, causing the other alpha to buck his hips at the sensation that was half-tease, half-torture. The motion was halted by Steve’s tight hold on his hips, but the message came through loud and clear. 

_Get on with it, punk!_

In the following instant Steve’s tongue became a weapon that speared into Bucky’s body with abandon, curling and twisting along his inner walls to catch the strings of come he’d deposited there earlier. The combination of his own musk mixed with Bucky’s was overwhelming, more delicious than anything Steve can consciously remember devouring in his life, so he greedily lapped up what his tongue managed to wrench free. Soon, Bucky’s hole was leaking a steady stream of saliva and come, sticking to Steve’s chin and cheeks as he burrowed his face between the plump cheeks, tongue tunneling deeper as he lightly skimmed the depths that would make his partner scream.

The bathroom became filled with the sounds of their pleasure. Close to losing his mind, Bucky interchangeably moaned, mewled and howled as Steve’s tongue worked vigorously, while wet sucking and muffled grunts spoke of Steve’s dogged industriousness. It was inevitable that these noises would draw to a crescendo as he withdrew his tongue and replaced it with one finger and then another, pumping them against the sensitive bundle of nerves as he sucked on Bucky’s oversensitized rim. The breathless pitch of his mate’s exhalations told Steve exactly what he needed to know: the alpha was teetering on the precipice of an orgasm. One curl from his fingers would make it so.

 _Or one thrust from his cock_ , his hindbrain suggested through the haze of arousal. It would be so easy to drag his mate down and claim him in one fluid movement, quelling the almost painful ache building at the base of his own member. But that would be incredibly selfish and entirely against the implicit rules Steve had set for this encounter. 

_Self-restraint_ , he reminded himself. No excuses this time. He had to endure and be the attentive mate Bucky deserved.

Abandoning his mouth’s assault on Bucky’s hole, he lifted his head and reoriented his efforts on the erection that was crying for attention, bobbing up and down and splattering come onto defined muscles. Steve’s mouth almost went dry at the sight of it. Without any need for further deliberation, he darted forward to take the weeping head into his mouth, suckling on it as he twisted his fingers and pushed his knuckles up against Bucky’s prostate.

His mate’s body jolted with a high-pitched whine as he came, come exploding on Steve’s tongue as Bucky writhed wildly in an attempt to express the pleasure coursing through him. It’s not quite the screaming release he’d promised Bucky, but he’ll take it. Seeing the other alpha in the throes of ecstasy like this was almost too magnificent to bear. Steve barely resisted taking his own cock in hand as he helped Bucky ride out his orgasm, but he persevered.

What seemed like an eternity later, he let the flagging erection fall from his mouth, so he could slide Bucky’s trembling legs off his shoulders and lower them back into the still warm bathwater. His mate had gone limp like a doll, head rolling forward as he recovered his breath. With one strong tug, he slipped off the edge of the tub and into Steve’s waiting lap.

As Bucky’s hands instinctively slithered up his chest and to the back of the other alpha’s neck, Steve unexpectedly found himself pinned in place as the other surged forward to claim his mouth in a bruising kiss. Bucky’s eyes were open, pupils blown wide and burning with a wildfire that gradually cooled with every brush of lips and wrestling tongues. There was no doubt he was chasing the taste of himself and Steve let him have it until the rush of endorphins ran out and Bucky sagged in his arms with bone-deep relief.

Another languid kiss passed between them before either of them seemed to regain enough of their faculties to speak.

‘Your mouth always got you in the worst trouble,’ Bucky murmured as he stroked his hands down Steve’s broad shoulders in a silent ‘thank you’. ‘But it’s never ceased to amaze.’

‘I’m glad,’ Steve said, cradling his mate closer as one of those daring hands wandered below the waterline and brushed against his own erection, which hadn’t wilted once during the less heated portion of their encounter.

In a flash, the look of exhaustion on Bucky’s face transformed into one of mischief as he closed his fist around the offending member and gave it a firm tug. ‘Let’s see what favours it can get you instead, hmmm?’

Steve groaned, secretly proud of his proof of self-restraint and too caught up in his own arousal to protest. ‘Whatever you want, Buck. I’m yours.’

❈

Outside of the seclusion of either bedroom, a sunny spring day was coming to an end. 21 degrees celsius, zero chance of rain and a moderate eastern wind. Vision sifted through the data with a smile as he and Wanda left Central Park. Harley was perched safely on his shoulders, so they couldn’t accidentally lose him in the crowd. The two junior Avengers had taken the little alpha for a spin on the playground and an extensive tour of the zoo to grant his father a few guilt-free hours of engineering time. 

Even with his cheeks dusted pink from exertion after a long day of playing, the little alpha was still brimming with excitement, beaming down at Wanda as they talked on the way home. ‘And then daddy promised we can build a tower in the workshop, like really small and with all the letters,’ Harley babbled in a manner that distinctly reminded Vision of his father.

‘Is that so?’ Wanda twirled her fingers to create a miniature scale model of the Tower on the palm of her hand, holding it up for Harley to view and laughing as he tried to pinch the red tendrils between his pudgy toddler fingers. ‘You’ll have to show me yours once it’s finished, so we can compare.’

The boy giggled, batting at her elegant hand until she was forced to let the magic construct dissipate. ‘Not fair! You have to use your hands!’

‘But I did use my hands, **lurkó** ,’ she cooed in return, standing on her toes to tickle him under the chin. She smelled of lilies and omega as she leaned in closer to Vision. ‘And your daddy has all those fancy tools to help him, so who is cheating here, huh?’

Harley, being two-and-a-half years old, merely stuck out his tongue in reply, bested by his honorary aunt’s superior reasoning. (Or was she his sister-in-law? Tony had never officially adopted Vision, but the android knew the man considered him to be his offspring all the same. It made for some weird familial relations.)

Vision pondered the question as they continued to walk back to the Tower in silence. His mate and little brother shared increasingly challenging gestures when they thought he wasn’t paying attention. 

The power dynamics between alphas and omegas were foreign to his artificial biology, but he could recognize that it was healthy for a child to express their secondary gender in the safety of play. If Harley went too far or did something unacceptable, Wanda knew to correct him with a firm voice and by setting a good example. As the only omegas currently on an otherwise alpha and alien team, she and Tony had sat down one afternoon to come up with ways in which they could familiarise Harley with the other genders. To Vision’s relief, it had been a surprisingly effective bonding moment between the two, indicating that their past issues were becoming water under the bridge as the team stabilised.

Wanda and Harley were still at their juvenile game when they stepped into the private elevator and Vision was able to drop his human projection, reverting to his familiar vibranium shell. 

‘Home sweet home,’ he finally spoke aloud as he mentally connected with FRIDAY’s servers and asked her to take them to the penthouse. Theoretically, he could do it himself by hacking into the elevator’s controls, but he didn’t want to step on his sister’s toes. The Tower was her domain like it had once been Jarvis’. It was only right that she controlled what happened within it.

 _You sure you want to go up there?_ Came the instant reply. _The Boss is_ **_indisposed_ ** _at the moment._ There was something in her tone that told Vision it wasn’t just a simple case of Tony passing out on the couch after an engineering binge, but he couldn’t quite grasp what she was hinting at. Luckily, he wasn’t alone.

Telepathically, he tapped Wanda on the shoulder and passed her the information on. He could see the instant she deduced the meaning behind Friday’s words. A shadow of concern clouded her bright eyes.

 _He’s going through a heat,_ she whispered back, sharing a visual of a calendar with him. Specific days had been marked in her and Tony’s colours respectively. _Probably a flash one since it’s not his time yet._

Vision’s brow furrowed in consternation. _Is it safe to take Harley up to the penthouse, then? Or should we keep him on our floor for the time being?_

 _He’s a child, Viz._ Wanda bumped her shoulder against his in a show of comfort. _He won’t notice the difference._

It was easy to put his trust into her when she was so much more experienced in living as a being made from flesh and bone, so Vision tried his best to smooth over the uncomfortable twinges in his software. He gently bounced Harley on his shoulders to distract himself.

‘Looking forward to dinner, young sir?’ He asked, stealing the British accent and the nickname from the remnants of Jarvis’ code. ‘Can you guess what your dad has inside the refrigerator?’

‘Is it burgers?’ 

Wanda rolled her eyes at the predictable reply. Stark boys and their cheeseburgers. ‘Try again, lurkó **.** It has a bit more green in it.’

Vision could practically hear Harley pout. ‘He made pesto verde for pasta?’

‘Only the super secret Stark pesto,’ Wanda confirmed with an exaggerated whisper. ‘Food of the gods and especially yummy for growing boys.’

Vision didn’t catch Harley’s reaction, because at that moment the elevator doors slid back open and his sensors were flooded with errant data. He had to swiftly blink various environmental notices away before they blinded him. Next to him, Wanda stiffened in response to the same omegan pheromones that were assaulting his artificial senses. Frankly, Vision found the tidal wave of uncontrollable biological feedback highly distressing.

Used as she was to the scent of omega in heat, Wanda recovered first and before Vision could ask her to reevaluate the wisdom of having the younger Stark in this environment, she dashed from the elevator to collect something that had been dropped on the floor. A trail of discarded clothing was strewn haphazardly between the living room couch and the door to Tony’s bedroom. She rolled the first piece into a tight ball that she could stuff out of sight in her jacket.

Disturbed by the intensity of the flash heat Tony must be going through, Vision wavered inside the elevator, debating if he should follow her example or stay put and wait for her to finish cleaning up after his father. 

Harley, however, had no trouble making the decision for him. Little fists tugged at the seam of his cranial plate. ‘Come on, Viz. Pesto!’

He took a deep breath he didn’t need and forced his feet forward, just in time to see Wanda disappear inside the bathroom to dump the pheromone-saturated clothing in the bathtub. There, she could soak the items and wash out the slick before it permanently stained Tony’s jeans. 

Reassured that she had that part covered, Vision hurried along to the kitchen and deposited Harley in his special chair, handing him a tablet that Tony had left laying around on the counter with fake good cheer. ‘Just a minute, I’m going to check if your dad’s hungry, okay?’

Already tapping away on the digital screen, Harley hummed in agreement. It maybe wasn’t the most responsible parenting trick in the book, but it was definitely the most efficient, Vision thought as he tried to walk back out of the kitchen without giving away the rising stress levels in his processors. 

Wanda was waiting for him at Tony’s door, anxiously listening for any sign of distress. ‘His thoughts are tranquil right now, so I think the worst of it has passed and he’s fallen asleep.' She took a long sniff at the door and shook her head. 'There's some vague traces of alpha pheromones, but I doubt that he spent the heat with anyone. You can go in and check if he's alright now, and I'll make sure our little troublemaker gets fed.'

Relieved that he wouldn't have to encroach upon the domain of one temperamental alpha, Vision bent down to peck her cheek in gratitude. 'I'll be right with you.'

Then, the android squared his shoulders and floated through the solid mass of the door right into the bedroom beyond. His visual sensors adapted to the decrease in light as he took in the state of the room and, more importantly, its sole occupant.

Tony was lying on his side in the middle of the bed, face half-obscured by the mountain of pillows he liked to collect. Fast-asleep, he looked completely wrung-out but peaceful. A satisfied smile curled up the corners of his mouth. Vision hadn't seen that kind of expression on him since he'd given birth to Harley after thirty-two hours of intense labour. 

The android wondered what, or rather _who,_ could have made his father feel that way. Was it the mystery alpha Tony never dared to speak about? The one he'd spent one night with and subsequently had tried to cover up with layer after layer of lies and intrigue, despite reeking of the strange alpha’s pheromones for weeks on end? Vision had always wanted to know what was up with that and still had the data from his olfactory chip backed up on his servers. He'd only have to upload it to the lab to get his answers. 

_But maybe it was better to let sleeping dogs lie,_ he thought, rearranging the sheets so that Tony wouldn't catch a cold. Maybe, one day, the omega would be ready to share his secrets with the rest of his family. 

Vision stroked his father's rumpled hair and hoped.

**Author's Note:**

> Foreign language translation: If my research into the Hungarian language is to be trusted, lurkó is an affectionate way of addressing a mischievous child. 
> 
> *
> 
> I'm not going to lie: I will 100% be continuing this series, but I'll take substantial breaks between the parts. I have many more fics living in my brain that want to see the light, so maybe expect 'Jelly Bean' sometime in early Fall. Steve and I will be seeing you then. 
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are appreciated! <3


End file.
